Casing for lighting device



June 2, 1959 R. A. NORDQUIST ETAL 2,889,450

CASING FOR LIGHTING DEVICE Filed June 18. v 1956 IN V EN TORs JZMss R.Buxosxy //a mm M IA/DRE BY ROBERT C. MILLER United States Patent Paul,Minn.,, assignors to Penta Incorporated; Minneapolis, Minn, acorporation of Minnesota Application June is; 1956, Serial No. 591,955..4 Claims. 01. Moi-16.65)

This. invention relates to animprovement in the structure. of a, casingfor a lighting device. While said casing may be used in connection withvarious types of fighting devices; it is. here. considered withparticular reference. to a dry cell' type of lighting device. commonlyknown as a-rflasblight.

It very often happens that inusing a flashlight the Operator wishes todirect thev beam of light ata particular angle. More often than not bothof the. operators. hands will be occupied and he will attempt in someway to prop up the casingof the flashlight, hold it between his knees orattempt to squeeze it between anand his. body. These are all. veryunsatisfactory ways of attempting to direct a beam of light from aflashlight. It is desirable to have a. flashlight casing so constructedthat the body of the casing itself may be easily positioned to. directitsbeam of light in one of. various different angles in relation to the.surface upon which it is resting.

It is. an. object therefore of this invention to: provide a casing for alighting device, such as a flashlight,. adapted to be positioned todirect its. beam of light at various different angles in relation tothesurface. uponwhich it is resting.

I-tis also an object of this invention to provide a casing for aflashlight comprising a member polygonal. in form having some of its.sides respectively in planes at different angles to the planes of theother sides of said member.

It is another object of this invention to provide a casing for aflashlight having aside with. a lens mounted therein and having each ofits. other sides respectively in planes which are at an angle to the.plane. of said first mentioned side.

It is another object of this invention to. provide a casing for aflashlight having a side with a lens mounted therein and having each ofits other sides respectively in planes which. are. at an angle to. the.plane. of said first: mentioned side.

It is. still another object of this invention to provide a casing for aflashlight comprising a member polygonal in form having one. side. ofthe. lens. mounted therein and having the sides remote from said. side.each in. a plane at a diflerent angle than the plane of said side.

It isa further objectv of this invention to provide a, casing' for aflashlight comprising a member polygonal in form having a side having. alens mounted therein having its top and end sides in planes at rightangles to the planes of said side and having its remaining sides each ina plane at a different angle to the plane of said side.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a casing for aflashlight comprising a member polygonal in form having a side having alens mounted therein having a top and bottom side in planes at rightangles to the plane of said first mentioned side and having its endsrespectively in planes at acute angles to the plane of said firstmentioned side and having its remaining sides in planes at differentobtuse angles to the plane of said first mentioned side.

These and other objects and advantages of the in- Patented June 2, 19592 ventionwill be fully set forthin.the.following. description made inconnection with the. accompanying drawings in which like reference.characters refer to similar. parts throughout: the several views and inwhich:

Fig. l is a view in front elevation of applieants device;

Fig; 2. is a view in side elevation of applicantis device;

Fig. 3: is atop plan view of applicants device;

Fig. 4 is. a. view in side elevation of a modification of applicantsdevice;

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of a modification of applicants device;

Fig, 6 is a view in side elevation of. the modification shown in. Fig.5;. and

Fig.7 is a top plan view of a modificationof applicantls device.

Referring to Figs. l-3, applicants device. is shown comprising a casing10. Said casingv may be. made of any suitable sheet material and is hereindicated as being made of a plastic material; While said casing: 10.may take on. variousv forms, it is here. illustrated as being of.ageneral polygonal form having a face side. 10a, a. top side 101)., abottom side 10c, ends 10 andv 10g, and sides. 10d and. 102. remote fromsaid. face side 10a.

In the. embodiment of applicants devicehere. illustrated said remotesides 10d and10e and end. 10-1 are shown to be. respectively in planesat; angles acute. to the plane of said face side 10a. Said end 10g; isvin a plane at an. angle obtuse totheplane of said side-10a. Said othersides are shown to be in planes at right angles to the plane. of saidface. side.v

Alens 11 is, mounted. in said face side 10a. Said lens will be. formedof a transparent. sheet material, such as glass or plastic. A switch 12of a type. commonly used in flashlights will be secured to. said topside. 10b. Said lens and switch will be identical in structure, in eachof the modifications of applicants device to be hereinafter described.

Said. side. 10e. will be detachablysecured in. a suitable manner to saidcasing 10, as by clips or other well-known means. This structure is nothere. illustrated and forms no part of this. invention.

In the use of applicants device, when said casing 10 is placed in aresting position on its bottom side. 10s,, it will direct a beam oflight. in a line parallel to the surface upon which it is resting. Todirect a. beam of light at. an. angle tothe surface supporting saidcasing, said casing need only be positioned.- torest on. any one. of thesides except 10a or, 10b whereby said beam of light may quickly bedirected at different angles as; desired. Thus the operator can quicklyand easily change the elevation of the beam of light by merely resting"said device on diflerent of its sides. As here illustrated, said beam oflight may be directed at four different angles in. relation to. theplaneupon which said device. is resting. It is understood that the center ofgravity of applicants device is positioned therein so that. said devicemay rest on and. be supported. by each of the. sides thereof asi-ndicated.

Referring to Fig. 4,. a. modification of. applicants; deviceshowncomprising a. casing: 15. having a. face. side 15a having lens: 11mounted therein. Said. casing has a top side 15b, a bottom side, 15c;ends 15f; and remote from said face side 15a are sides 15d and 15e. Saidside 15e will be detachably secured to said casing 15 in any suitablemanner as previously discussed above. Switch 12 will be mounted in saidside 15b.

Sides 15b and ends 15 are shown to be in planes at right angles to theplane of said face side 15a. Said bottom side 15c is in a plane at anacute angle to the plane of said face side 15a and sides 15d and 15e arerespectively in planes at angles obtuse to the plane of said face side15a.

In the use of applicants device as illustrated in Fig. 4, a beam oflight may be directed either in a line parallel to the surface uponwhich said device is resting, or in any one of three different angles inrelation to said surface by resting said device on either its bottomside 150 or its sides 15d or 152.

Referring to-Figs. 5 and 6, another modification of applicants device isshown comprising a casing 20 having a face side 20a having lens 11mounted therein. Said casing 20 also has a top side 20b having switch 12mounted therein, a bottom side 2110, ends 203 and sides 20 20g, and 20hremote from said face side 2011. Said side 20g forms an inclined portionof the top of said casing and side 2011 forms the back of said casingand will be removably secured to said casing in any well known manner.The means for securing said side 20h to said casing 20 does not form apart of this invention. Said sides 20g and 2011 are respectively inplanes at different angles to the plane of said face side 20a. Saidsides 20 are inclined toward each other and are in planes at anglesidentical to the plane of said face side 20a.

In the use of applicants device as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the operatormay direct the beam of light therefrom at various different angles tothe surface upon which said device is resting. This modification differsfrom that shown in Fig. 4 in that some of its sides are in planes atdifferent angles in relation to the face side.

With reference to Fig. 7, another modification is shown comprising acasing 25 having a face side 25a having a lens 11 mounted therein. Saidcasing 25 is shown having a top side 25b having a' switch 12 mountedtherein,

having ends 25c and having sides 25d and 25e remote from said face side25a. The bottom side of said casing 25 not here shown is in a plane atright angles to the plane of the face side 2511.

The modlfication here shown in Fig. 7 is similar to I that shown inFigs. 5 and 6 with the exception that the sides 250 are inclinedrearwardly toward each other directly from the face side 25:: instead ofbeing so inclined from points remote from said face side, as shown inthe modification in Figs. 5 and 6.

Thus it is seen that I have provided an efficient and very practicalflashlight casing which permits the operator thereof to quickly andeasily direct a beam of light in different angles to the plane ofsurface upon which the device is resting by merely resting the casing ofsaid device on one or another of its sides.

It will of course be understood that various changes may be made in theform, details, arrangement and proportions of the parts, withoutdeparting from the scope of applicants invention, which, generallystated, consists in a device capable of carrying out the objects aboveset forth, in the parts and combinations of parts disclosed and definedin the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A casing for a lighting device having in combination, a plurality ofsides, one of said sides bearing a lens and a second of said sidesbearing a switch, the remainder of said sides of said devicerespectively being in planes at different angles to the plane of saidlens bearing side, each of said remaining sides forming a flatunobstructed surface capable of stably supporting said device andrespectively to direct a beam of light from said lens at difierentangles, one of. said remaining sides being in a plane at a right angleto the plane of said lens bearing side, one of said last mentioned sidesbeing in a plane at an obtuse angle to the plane of said lens bearingside and the other of said remaining sides each being in a plane at adifferent acute angle to the plane of said lens bearing side and all ofsaid sides being joined to completely enclose said casing.

2. A casing for a battery operated portable lighting device having incombination, a plurality of sides, one of said sides bearing a lens, asecond of said sides bearing a switch, the remainder of said sideshaving flat unobstructed surfaces, said casing being supportable by eachof said plurality of sides save said switch bearing side and each ofsaid remaining sides being in a plane at a respectively different anglefrom the other of said remaining sides to the plane of said lens bearingside and all of said sides being joined to completely enclose saidcasing.

3. A casing for a lighting device having in combination, a plurality ofsides, one of said sides bearing a lens and a second side bearing aswitch, the remainder of said sides having flat unobstructed surfaces,said casing being stable when supported by each of said plurality ofsides save said switch bearing sides, a pair of opposite ofsaid'remaining sides being in planes at right angles to said lensbearing side and to the plane of the bottom side, said bottom side beingin a plane at an acute angle to said lens bearing side, a lower rearside being in a plane at an obtuse angle to the plane of said bottomside and an upper rear side being in a plane at an obtuse angle to theplane of said last mentioned rear side and in a plane at an acute angleto said lens bearing side and all of said sides being joined tocompletely enclose said casing.

4. A casing for a lighting device having in combination,

a plurality of sides, one of said sides bearing a lens, a second of saidsides bearing a switch, said casing-being "stable when supported by anyone of said plurality of in planes at acute angles to the plane of saidlens bearing side and inclined upper and lower rear sidestemote fromsaid lens bearing side and being in planes at angles obtuse one to theother and at angles acute to said lens bearing side and all of saidsides being joined to completely enclose said casing. 1

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,292,188 Wheeler Ian. 21, 1919 1,565,301 Andrae Dec. 15, .19251,810,767 Holland June 16, 1931 1,851,199 Mayer Mar. 29, 1932 D. 127,597Wyatt June 3, 1941 D. 144,946 Stegman June 4, 1 946 2,444,540 Stoeck etal. July 6, 1948 2,666,414 Burr et al. Ian. 19, 1954 2,683,953 HopkinsJuly 20, 1954 2,739,305 Harmon Mar. 20, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 270,061Great Britain May 5, 1927 Breat Britain Nov. 19, 1948

